Sex attack on patient ‘part of diagnosis’

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A HEALTH worker has been jailed for performing oral sex on a vulnerable patient and then explaining the irregular conduct as a necessary part of the diagnosis.

Caboolture health worker Christopher Paul Costello, 31, pleaded guilty in the District Court at Brisbane to the aggravated sexual assault of a patient on April 10, last year.

Judge Brian Harrison sentenced Costello to 18-months behind bars, suspended after three-months served.

He slammed the health worker’s conduct as a “blatant breach of trust”.

“To some, it may seem strange that he never objected earlier, but in any event, what you did was totally unacceptable and went way beyond the guidelines of what you were required to do,” he said.

Judge Harrison said Costello’s conduct was beyond any of his duties.

“You then, it seems to me, continued to push your luck as to how far you could go,” he said.

Crown prosecutor Victoria Trafford-Walker said Costello was working as an indigenous health worker at a clinic in Caboolture where he would perform minor procedures and patient questionnaires.

She said the 30-year-old victim who saw Costello was a vulnerable man who was under the care of his wife.

Ms Trafford-Walker said the victim provided a urine sample when Costello claimed there were traces of blood in it that required further investigation.

She said Costello accompanied the man to the toilet where he asked the man to remove his pants so he could feel his testicles for lumps.

The court was told Costello then removed his gloves and continued to feel the man’s testicles, even asking him to lay on the ground for a better angle.

Ms Trafford-Walker said the health worker asked his patient to take his underpants off when he began to touch his penis and put his mouth around it three or four times.

She said that when the patient objected, Costello told him: “I just need to try and get some fluid out to see where the blood is coming from.”

The court was told the patient reported the conduct to the clinic when he left the consultation with Costello.

The incident had a “significant impact” on the victim, Ms Trafford-Walker said.

“People in the complainant’s position have a right to think their best interests are being looked after by a medical professional,” she said.

Barrister Scott Lynch, for Costello, tendered a psychiatric report on his client’s behalf that detailed a troubled background characterised by abuse at a young age, major depressive disorder and undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder.

He said Costello had lost his job and his Blue Card as a result of the incident.

Mr Lynch said his client’s conduct was not prolonged and stopped as a result of his own volition.